gray birch

American  

noun

1. a small, bushy birch, Betula populifolia, of stony or sandy areas of the eastern U.S., having grayish-white bark and triangular leaves.

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Etymology

Origin of gray birch

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gray birch

He was sorry, and explained the case by saying,— "Well, if there's one kind of tree I hate more than another, it's a gray birch."

From The Hills of Hingham by Sharp, Dallas Lore

There were dry, warm slopes, where the birches grew; not the queenly paper birch of the North, but the girlish little gray birch with its veil of twinkling leaves and its glimmer of slender stems.

From The Jonathan Papers by Morris, Elisabeth Woodbridge

Scrub oak and gray birch have taken their places, but do not fill them.

From Confessions of Boyhood by Albee, John

Soil and location: The gray birch does best in a deep, rich soil, but will also grow in poor soils.

From Studies of Trees by Levison, Jacob Joshua

Besides this, there is the white, or little gray, birch, which is seldom over twenty-five or thirty feet high.

From Among the Trees at Elmridge by Church, Ella Rodman